STUDIO/GALLERY

DECONSTRUCTION / CONSTRUCTION

18th International Triennial of Textile
Central Museum of Textiles. Łódź, Poland
11.10.2025-3.05.2025







Held at the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, Poland, the 18th International Triennial of Textile is one of the world’s most significant exhibitions dedicated to contemporary textile art. Established in 1972, it has become a key platform for artists exploring the material, conceptual, and social dimensions of textile today.

The 2025 edition, curated by Marta Kowalewska and Bukola Oyebode-Westerhuis, takes place under the theme “Deconstruction / Reconstruction.” The exhibition examines how textile practices can engage with processes of dismantling and rebuilding — questioning existing systems, reinterpreting traditions, and proposing new forms of coexistence. Through works by artists from around the globe, it reflects on the potential of fabric as a language of care, identity, and transformation.

Among the selected artists is Alexandre Liberato, a Portuguese visual artist based in Berlin whose interdisciplinary practice spans painting, textile art, and sculpture. His participation in this edition reflects a sustained inquiry into the intersections of materiality, emotion, and social meaning.

Liberato’s work engages with themes of vulnerability, resilience, and the politics of repair — ideas that resonate strongly with the curatorial framework of this Triennial. His inclusion in Deconstruction / Reconstruction situates his practice within a broader international conversation on the evolving role of textile in contemporary art.









COURAGE NOT TO FIGHT 

Acrylic primers and paint, natural pigments, and sewing thread on natural fabric, 2024.
120 x 160 cm | 47.2 x 63 in






The work approaches textiles as both medium and metaphor for reconstructing fragmented systems and challenging hegemonic narratives. It delves into ruptures within identity, masculinity, and memory, engaging deeply with themes of repair, transformation, and interconnectedness. In this piece, sewing becomes an act of resistance and reflection, merging care and labor to reclaim forgotten ways of being.

Through the tactile interplay of thread and fabric, the work confronts historical and social stratifications, not erasing scars but making them visible as sites of meaning. The process itself acts as dialogue between the personal and collective.

The political and emotional dimensions of repair guide the artist's exploration of masculinity, stripped of its patriarchal burdens and opened to vulnerability and multiplicity. Here, the material becomes more than a surface; it is an archive, bearing traces of history, emotion, and possibility. The delicate rhythm of stitching mirrors the biological rhythms of life, offering a contemplative space where the human measure is redefined not as a force of dominance but as one element within a vast ecological web.

Fragile yet resilient, this textile embodies the tension between permanence and impermanence, mirroring contradictions in rebuilding a fractured world. These woven threads are acts of resistance, imagining futures where coexistence replaces conquest and connection overcomes fragmentation. This work aims to contribute to new forms, languages, and relationships that reflect the complexity and diversity of our shared existence.


Text by Elena Wise.



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